Water Towns of China Near Shanghai

People who are only able to spend a short time in China and do the usual Beijing, Xian and Shanghai tour are missing the rural areas of what I call the Real China. If that is all the time you have, then perhaps you might take one more day or even two and go out to the water towns a short distance from Shanghai. These small towns or villages were the summer homes of the Shanghai Officials the Qing Dynasty and the hot months of summer . Pictured here is just one town with canals, small restaurants with local food, local shops, arched bridges and boats being polled down the canals. Pearl jewelry is very inexpensive made by the local fisherman and their families. It is a nice stop on the way to Suzhou for lunch and to enjoy the peaceful countryside

away from the large crowded cities. Durinig my 25 years of travel and over 50+ trips throughout China I still find these villages very relaxing for a couple of days before I head home to Seattle. Check out our web site at www.interlakechinatours.com

Visiting Naxi and Yi People

When taking a tour to China, one needs to get out of the large cities and into the countryside to see the real China. Above you will see examples of Yi and Naxi people in remote villages outside of LiJiang which is in Yunnan province. Having a guide with you allows you to visit with the locals and be able to see how they live and work. It is normal to be able to visit their homes and chat with them over a cup of tea. They are often as interested in you as you are in them. I made a house call with a veterinarian who was passing by on his bicycle and found it very interesting talking to him and the farmer while he was tending to the farmer's Yak and horse

. There are many opportunities learn about China and to visit local people in the countryside with a guide. These opportunities often become the highlight of your tour with good memories. Tours to China is my business but I often never think I am working but enjoying the fruits of my labor as well.

New Monastery at LiJiang

If you will be going to LiJiang you do not want to miss seeing the new Monastery that will be finished soon. The old one which is over 200 years old is at the bottom of the hill. The artists and painters were still working on it when I visited it this past November. The artwork inside is fantastic and I watched as the lead artist drew the outline for the painters to fill in. This is about an hour and a half from LiJiang overlooking a beautiful lake. Near by are villages of Naxi and Yi people as they live their daily lives which you can visit without a flood

of tourists. I visited several homes with a local friend of mine that grew up in the Naxi village but lives in LiJiang. I also made a house call with a local doctor who was giving shots to some water buffalo and played with a new born who was only two weeks old. Tours to China is my business but sometimes I think I also have too much fun and experiences to call it work.

Xuankong Si - The Hanging Monastery

Just 50 miles south of Datong is the Hanging Monastery dating back over 1,400 years. It is held up by poles driven into the cliff as well as being supported from below. It can all be toured although no monks have occupied it for several years. I have included it in my packaged tour which I call the Ancient Capitals tour but can be included in any private custom tour too. Between Datong and Taiyuan there are many sites to stop and visit such as the largest Wooden Pagoda in China, caves that people live in yet today, villages built semi-under ground, mansions once lived in by rich land owners and now open to the public as museums and much more. This is an itinerary that starts in Beijing, goes to Datong, Taiyuan, Pingyao, into Xian and over to Luoyang before going back to Beijing or on to Shanghai. Tours to China has been my business and passion for 25 years exploring and visiting the remote corners of this culture rich country.

Merry Xmas from Beijing and Happy Holidays!

(Courtesy of Four Seasons Courtyard Hotel, near Drum Tower)

It's not actually snowing here, cold and crisp but with lovely blue sunny skies. The ski slopes are open, the carol singers are singing and there are many chances to have Xmas lunches and dinners and drinks. There is some Xmas spirit ( and lots of love) in the air, but mainly in hotels and shopping centres.

Even the rickshaw driver has got the right festive colour for his rickshaw.

It seems Santa changes to riding a horse when he gets to China!

Interesting mix of Chinese and Western styles (Shanghai shikumen)

Smiling waitresses at a restaurant where Santa was serving "Angry Milk Tea"

Chinese knots with the 'fortune' character go well with Xmas tree decorations!

It seems that Tibetan Lama monks also go Xmas shopping.

Santa flying into a restaurant by parachute

Perhaps the Santa saleswoman is feeling a little cold selling ice cream!

On the other hand, this Santa must be feeling so hot cooking barbecue meat！

I guess you can read the Chinese here, offering super value lunches/dinner on Xmas Day  for just over USD2.

Santa was not a Prince with a royal crown.......

Nor did he have a castle............

.........Actually it was all for the Prince Charming - a foreign royal of course - and his Chinese "princesses".

 Lots of goodies are on sale for the kids.......chocolates, Xmas logs, puddings.....

If you want to spoil your only child why not buy him/her a big black Santa for a lucky 588 yuan or just over USD93 ( or about the price of 40 Xmas lunches at Macdonalds!). Expensive? Yes, but it is Xmas after all!

 Chrismas trees and lights were put up on the main shopping street of Qian Men

It's just a stone's throw from Chairman Mao's Mausoleum....I just wonder what he thinks about all this consumerism.

May I take this chance to wish you all a Merry Xmas and all the best for 2012. We will celebrate it quietly here, because of course the real New Year is not till Jan 23rd!

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone.  This blog will hopefully keep you all updated on what we are doing for our China preparations.  Obviously, nothing too thrilling is happening yet because we are still in the U.S., but we are frantically trying to learn as much as we can about Changsha, China (and China in general) before we go.  Some of the questions that have been asked by myself and my children are: 1) How many people speak English? 2) Will we be able to handle the spicy food? 3) Is it true we need to wear our sandals with socks? 4) Do they have forks?  5) What will we do without Facebook and YouTube? 6) What are the students like there? 8) How much attention will a family with five light-haired blue eyes kids get in China? 9) How will we get around while we are there (buses, taxis, etc.) 10) Where is the nearest Pizza Hut?  11) What are the bathrooms like? 12) How difficult will it be to practice our religion there?  13) What will our apartment look like?

Probably our biggest preparation right now is to try to learn as much Mandarin Chinese as we can before we go over there.  It is clearly one of the most difficult languages in the world with its tonal system, but we are hard at work with our Fluenz program (much better than Rosetta).  The kids are absorbing this stuff like sponges, but I'm doing ok too.  I have signed up for a beginning Mandarin class on campus next semester and it will be taught by a very sweet lady (Professor Xiao) who actually comes from the same university that I will be teaching at over there (Hunan Normal University).  Our feeling is that we will definitely not be fluent for a while, but whatever we can learn will be helpful.  I think it also shows a great deal of respect to the culture by at least attempting to communicate with them instead of just assuming everyone in the world should speak English and that there must be something wrong with them if they don't.  Anyway, we will keep you posted as we learn new things.

Shenyang Puppet Government 1930's

In 1931 the Japanese invaded China and set up a Puppet Government in the Shenyang area of north-east China. General Zhang and his son lived in the house below and were part of that government. Shenyang which is an industrial area of China with automobile factories although has modern buildings is still like China of the 1980's in many ways. Few western tourist go there and I stayed in the old Holiday Inn although a new one has just been built for mostly foreign businessmen to stay when working in Shenyang. The house was built at the turn of the century and was occupied by the Last Emperor who left Beijing after being driven from the Forbidden City and replaced by the first President of China, Sun Yet Sen about 1916. The house is fantastic to visit and all the furnishing are still there and original. Shenyang is also the site of the founding of the Qing Dynasty in 1644 and a small Forbidden City is still there and being well maintained as a tourist attraction although few people visit it each day. It may not be a major tourist city to visit but it has a great deal of history connected to it from the 1600's through the Japanese occupation with a beautiful memorial museum shown here. For more on Shenyang contact us.